---
kind: "section"
citation: "39 U.S.C. § 1011"
title: "39"
title_heading: "Postal Service"
number: "1011"
heading: "Oath of office"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/39/1011"
units:
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 10 — Employment Within the Postal Service"
---

# §1011. Oath of office


Before entering upon their duties and before receiving any salary, all officers and employees of the [Postal Service](/usc/39/102.md?p=1) shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:

“I, ________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”

A person authorized to administer oaths by the laws of the United States, including [section 2903 of title 5](/usc/5/2903.md), or of a State or territory, or an officer, civil or military, holding a commission under the United States, or any officer or employee of the [Postal Service](/usc/39/102.md?p=1) designated by the Board may administer and certify the oath or affirmation.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 91–375, Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 733.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective July 1, 1971, pursuant to Resolution No. 71–9 of the Board of Governors. See section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as a note preceding section 101 of this title.